English: Langlois-Etevenaux Cottage, Akaroa (c.1843)

One of the oldest surviving houses in Canterbury, the Langlois-Eteveneaux Cottage (71 Rue Lavaud, Akaroa) was built in the early 1840s by Aimable Langlois. In 1858 the cottage passed to Jean-Pierre Eteveneaux, another French settler. Once thought to have been prefabricated in France, the cottage was built of NZ native timbers. But it owes its more sophisticated French styling to a remodelling around 1900 by Jean-Baptiste Eteveneaux, Jean-Pierre’s son. Jean-Baptiste gave the cottage a French look – with louvred shutters, rudimentary pilasters and elegant transom windows.

In 1963-64, the cottage was shorn of later additions, returned to its original two-room size and furnished with French furniture. Its age, and its being refurbished “in the French style” in the early 20th century, make the cottage Akaroa’s most important reminder of its French origins. NZHPT Category I; registration 264.